Though she played collegiate golf for cross-state rival Washington, in her fifth year as an assistant coach at Washington State with the men's and women's golf teams, Kari Sampson's blood runs crimson.

Since her arrival, Sampson has assisted head coach Walt Williams in producing two selections to the All-America team (both by Anastasia Kostina), six All-Pacific-10 Conference selections (three for Amy Eneroth, two for Kostina and one for Kim Welch) and six of the top 10 single-season scoring averages in school history.

After graduating from Washington in 2000 with a degree in speech communication, the Clarkston, Wash., native served as the Youth Director at the First Presbyterian Church of Clarkston for three years and assisted the Clarkston High School golf team.

Sampson took up the game of golf in high school at age 16 after moving to Clarkston from Lake Tahoe. As a junior she placed in the top 20 at the State championships and led the Clarkston girls' team to their first ever district championship. She improved her senior year finishing in the top 10 at State and once again led her team to the district title. Her sister, Ashley Martin, led the team to four more district championships.

Sampson was invited to walk on to the UW golf team as a sophomore after working with the team as a freshman, and earned a scholarship as a senior.

Her husband, Jason Sampson, works for the Environmental Health and Safety department here at Washington State. He attended Montana State, where he majored in chemical engineering.

Sampson and her husband recently had their first child, Faith, who was born in March 2007.

A die-hard athlete and an avid Cougar fan, Kari will only ski and play golf with him as they are the only sports in which she can compete with him.